The most well-known global payment gateway is PayPal (www.paypal.com). Even though PayPal was developed by a South African, PayPal was not offering merchant services to South African based companies for a long time. This changed in 2010. It’s now relatively simple to setup a PayPal account in South Africa. Paypal charges no setup or cancellation fees and offers transaction rates as low as 2.4% to 3.4%, plus $0.30 USD.

You can choose between the PayPal Express Checkout, which provides a seamless checkout for PayPal account holders via an API integration or the PayPal Standard Checkout, where PayPal authorizes payments and then returns the online customer to your website.

There are, however, a number of alternative payment gateways in South Africa which are well-established and reputabled.

There are two types of Payment Gateway providers in South Africa – those which require a client to register as an internet merchant with a South African Bank, and those that do not. In this article, we outline those that do not require clients to register as an internet merchant with a South African Bank.

UPDATED 18/02/2011:

Virtual Card Services (www.vcs.co.za) was established in 1996 and works with ABSA, Nedbank, Standard Bank and First National Bank and has more than 50 years’ collective experience in developing and implementing credit, debit and smartcard processing systems for all of the major card issuers in South Africa. In order for an online retailer to register with VCS, the retailer must register with their bank as a Credit Card Merchant. Once registered, the retailer will receive a Merchant Number and, using this, can register for VCS services.

In terms of VCS fees, VCS does not charge to setup a retailer. Volume Discounts can be negotiated with VCS, based on the retailer’s transaction processing history. No setup bank fees are levied for new Internet Merchant applications for users who utilize the services of Nedbank. Users with First National Bank will pay a Bank fee of R399, and for Standard Bank customers, a charge of R500 is levied. ABSA clients will have their bank fee negotiated with VCS. Commission on all transactions through an ABSA account carry a negotiable levy whilst a commission fee of between 5 and 7% applies when transacting with a First National Bank; Nedbank or Standard Bank account. ABSA clients pay a R120 administration fee too. The minimum monthly amount for a Standard Bank client is R150, whilst for First National Bank clients it is R399 and Nedbank clients need a minimum monthly of R500.

VCS provides its clients with full interfacing instructions, to enable the client’s web design and development team to integrate the VCS payment gateway into an e-Commerce website. Merchant web sites must pass parameters (i.e. reference number, description and amount to VOnline via the Pay buttons). Sample code will be provided on approval of a VCS application.

UPDATED 18/02/2011:

Setcom (www.setcom.co.za) is another payment service where bank registration is required for credit card acceptance. This service is aimed at companies with a minimum of 6 month trading history and banking relationship. The credit card acquiring is done directly with either ABSA, FNB or Standard Bank.  Setcom provides the technology to link the website to the banks. In addition to credit card processing, Setcom provides the only instant EFT service in South Africa, called SID Payment.

SID Payment (www.sidpayment.com) is an assisted EFT (electronic funds transfer) which allows the customer to make payment directly to a merchant using their existing Internet banking facility.

If a customer has never used SID before, they will be asked to run the application. The customer will then be directed to their chosen bank site where they can login to make payment. The merchant’s banking details will be pre-populated on the payments page. Once the customer completes the payment and receives the receipt, their order will be fulfilled straight away without having to fax the confirmation to the merchant.

UPDATED 18/02/2011:

Paygate (www.paygate.co.za) is very well known as it’s used by companies who have a merchant account with the banks. Paygate has been around since 1996 and is therefore being used extensively on websites around the country. Credit cards accepted include Mastercard, Visa, American Express and Diners Club. PayGate provides a number of different solutions to merchants and all are easy to use and extremely cost effective for online merchants and retailers.

Paygate requires online retailers to register as a merchant at their bank and will supply you with a quote on costings to you for joining, once you enquire here: https://www.paygate.co.za/pricing.php. Paygate focuses its services entirely on being a specialist payment services provider and leaves the web design and development to the experts. Paygate provides code samples, payment modules, logos and documentation for download on its website to enable clients development teams to easily integrate the Paygate system into their e-Commerce website.

UPDATED 18/02/2011:

IVeri (www.iveri.co.za) is offered by Nedbank. The iVeri Payment Gateway is a comprehensive solution that meets all the essential requirements of a true multi-channel card payments system and enables online retailers to access a range of services from remote payment devices to full-scale monitoring of all transactions in real-time. The key to the success of the iVeri Payment Gateway is that it provides a range of acceptance channels which provides more ways to accept payments and therefore more transactions. The iVeri Payment Gateway is a flexible yet robust and reliable solution that truly gives banks a competitive edge in the market.

Nedbank’s IVeri is a simple way to add payment facilities to your website. The IVeri Lite service requires very little integration and is aimed at Internet merchants who have limited technical resources. On checkout, the card holder is redirected to a secure payment page that is hosted by IVeri. This simplifies the integration and reduces integration time. The Iveri Enterprise service is ideal for medium to large e-Commerce websites. The Enterprise service leaves database storage, formatting and development entirely at the discretion of the clients’ web design and development team. IVeri’s systems provide advanced security and transaction monitoring, in real-time.

UPDATED 18/02/2011:

MyGate   (www.mygate.co.za) Financial Switching and Verification Platform enables customers to have one point of contact for all of their Payment, Collection and Verification needs.

MyGate is a registered Payment Service Provider (PSP) offering leading payment gateway services enabling merchant to accept credit card and pin less debit cards from a website or MOTO (Mail Order/Telephone Order) environment. MyGate Payment Gateway enables merchants to accept payments from credit cards and have an extensive range of Alternative Payment Methods which consists of Cell PayPoint, MiMoney and eBucks. Merchants can view and manage online transactions through MyGate Web Console.

MyGate currently works with all four major Banks in South Africa and assists all it’s clients in setting up their merchant accounts with the banks. MyGate prides itself on being one of  the most cost effective and innovative payment gateway in South Africa and focuses on guiding clients through each step of setting up their ecommerce websites, providing clients with all necessary technical API and various transactions reporting to ease transaction management.

UPDATED 18/02/2011:

AlertPay (www.alertpay.com) enables online retailers to manage multiple online businesses with just one AlertPay account and is the only third party payment processor enabled for use in South Africa. Touting itself as the easiest way to sell online, AlertPay offers three options a free Personal Starter Account, designed for the beginner retailer or online shopper, whilst the Personal Pro Account is geared towards the more established and regular retailer or online shopper, and offers low receiving fees and access to AlertPay’s Business Tools. AlertPay’s Business Account, however, focuses entirely on the online business owner and is fully tailored to meet the needs of their business and clientele.

AlertPay’s fee structure differs per Account Type. Whilst all types of accounts are free to open, the Personal Starter Account transaction fees are nil for sending and receiving money. Users can receive up to $400 per month without paying receiving fees. On the Personal Pro and Business Accounts, it costs 2.5% of the transaction value, plus $0.25 USD for e-wallet payments, and 4.9% of the transaction value plus $0.25 USD for credit card payments.

AlertPay focuses on simple integration of payment gateway services into your website. The standard integration method is ideal for those with no previous programming knowledge. AlertPay stores product/service details to enable easy updates of a description, pricing or other information. The advanced integration method is designed for businesses who manage their own data.

AlertPay also offers its clients with a range of business tools including Buy Now and Subscribe Now buttons. Instant Payment notifications; Mass Payments and the ability to add a number of Business Sub-Accounts, in order to manage multiple businesses, form part of AlertPay’s Value-added services. AlertPay’s Development Community forum provides sample code, scripts documentation and a range of downloads useful to enable the use of AlertPay’s systems on clients’ websites. A Merchant Integration Guide is also available for download.

UPDATED 18/02/2011:

Payfast (www.payfast.co.za) does not charge monthly fees only per-transaction fees. Offering four types of accounts, Payfast is geared entirely towards payment processing for South Africa only. Payfast may require a client to register as a merchant with a South African bank, but this depends on the account type selected.

Payfast’s Basic Account is intended only for users who only send money, whilst the Personal Account is geared towards regular users who need to pay online stores, and receive small amounts of money for online goods or services.  A Premier Account is intended for use by online retailers who need to accept money from customers and who are able to accept credit card payments. The Business Account focuses on larger businesses, who send and receive larger amounts of money on a regular basis.  The Basic Account does not require you to have a South African Bank Account but, the Personal, Premier and Business accounts do.

PayFast does not charge setup or monthly fees, or charge users a fee to send money. To receive funds, however, Payfast charges a minimum of 2% on an Instant EFT and PayFast Voucher transaction. For a credit card transaction, Payfast charges 4.9% of the transaction value plus an extra R2, and 7% of the transaction amount on a Ukash transaction. Payouts cost R8,77 and all selling tools offered by Payfast are free to use. Note, though, Payfast only accept payments from South African clients. PayFast provides a number of pre-built modules for a number of e-Commerce engines/shopping carts. These include: OSCommerce; VirtueMart, ZenCar and CubeCart. PayFast enables you to simply and quickly add their facilities to your website, and provides a full, easy to read integration guide on their website. PayFast has also enabled UKash (www.ukash.com) on their systems. UKash enables a client to buy things online without needing a credit card or even a bank account.

A variety of options is available for those wanting to enable their e-commerce website, and clients are offered a wide variety of options and account types.

Related: South Africa Payment Gateways that don’t require bank registration.